A24’s newest horror film “Heretic” just recently hit theaters Nov. 8 after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival Sept. 8. After watching it myself, I believe “Heretic” is a strong film that was simply advertised incorrectly.
The film received positive reviews from critics, gaining a 92% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes and has been performing well, debuting with $11 million in the domestic box office. However, the film has been receiving mixed reviews by audiences, who believe the second act of the film was weak and that overall, it doesn’t stand out amongst A24’s other horror films.
The film follows two Mormon missionaries, Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East), who enter the home of the reclusive Mr. Reed (Hugh Grant) where they begin discussing religion. The girls start to feel uncomfortable as Mr. Reed asks more and more direct questions, so they ask to leave. However, he claims that his front door locks on a timer so the only way they can leave is through a back door that leads to a basement. This is when it becomes clear that the missionaries are actually being used as test subjects in Mr. Reed’s investigation about the “one true religion.”
While this movie was objectively very well made, with beautiful visuals, amazing acting and incredible writing, I do not think it is actually a horror movie. The film’s biggest flaw was its marketing, as the trailers made it seem like a high action escape room psychological thriller, when in reality the movie is mostly just monologues about religion. The trailers also revealed most of the more exciting themes and plots, which made the beginning of the movie feel a bit slow, as the film took more than an hour to get to plot points revealed in the first 30 seconds of the trailer.
Although the movie was not really what I was expecting, I still enjoyed it, as I am someone who finds conversations about religion to be very interesting, and I enjoy hearing different perspectives on the topic. So, I enjoyed having this very philosophical film exploring the subject. With that being said, if you are someone who is not at all interested in religion or is very set in your beliefs, I would not recommend seeing this film, as it will either be very boring or could be offensive to people deeply rooted in their religion.
The movie is treated as an investigation of religion, as it is essentially a presentation of facts, evidence, interpretations, beliefs, arguments and counter arguments packaged in a somewhat thriller-esque film. It puts all this information on the table to elicit thoughts and conversation from the audience. The film doesn’t tell you whose opinion is correct; rather it encourages you to make your own opinion and interpretation based on the arguments in the film. This is especially effective because they included polar opposite characters: two young Mormon women and an old reclusive man with a very cynical approach to religion. By sharing both of their sides, it gives a holistic view of the topic. Throughout the film, I found myself listening to Mr. Reed’s arguments and completely agreeing with them, and then Sister Barnes or Sister Paxton would have a counter argument and I would find myself completely agreeing with them, too. This film handled the subject well as they informed the audience of several different opinions and interpretations.
Although I applaud the presentation of these arguments, I do agree with many audience members that the movie kind of loses itself about halfway through. Once Sister Barnes and Sister Paxton enter the basement, it feels like that is when the action is really going to pick up and everything will fall into place, but it doesn’t. I won’t spoil what happens, but it did feel like the writers didn’t quite know where to take the story, and it went a bit all over the place. This made the final act weaker, and Mr. Reed’s plan and motivations seem less clever, which undermined him as a villain. Even though I enjoyed the film without many horror elements, I feel that if they had taken a horror approach to the film, it would have been more entertaining and have had a stronger plot that appeals to a wider audience.
So, if you are interested in the topic of religion, I would recommend seeing this film as it brings up some interesting points on both sides of the argument. However, if you are looking for a horror or psychological thriller film that will leave you on the edge of your seat, I would not recommend “Heretic” as it, unfortunately, does not actually belong to the genre it was marketed as.
